Norwood Russell Hanson

Norwood Russell Hanson was an American philosopher who was active in the 1950s and 1960s. His principal works are Patterns of Discovery (1958) and The Concept of the Positron (1963). Hanson is most famous for having argued that scientific observation is theory-laden and that scientific discovery is rationally appraisable. Hanson was also one of the founders of the integrated study of philosophy of science and history of science (HPS).

Willard C. Humphreys, Jr. was an American philosopher, and a student of Norwood Russell Hanson. Humphreys was the author of many books and articles, and edited two of Hanson’s posthumously published books, Perception and Discovery and Constellations and Conjectures.

Matthew D. Lund is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and World Religions at Rowan University. He is the author of N.R. Hanson: Observation, Discovery, and Scientific Change (Humanity Books, 2010), the only book-length study of Hanson’s philosophy. He is also editor of N.R. Hanson’s Perception and Discovery: An Introduction to Scientific Inquiry, Second Edition (Springer, 2018) and What I Do Not Believe, and Other Essays, Second Edition (Springer, 2020).